Note 13. The scalp environment

Most hair-density routines go straight to the follicle. Stimulate it, feed it, signal it. The surface it grows out of is treated as scenery.

The follicle is not free-standing. It sits in living tissue, and the condition of that tissue is measurable: buildup of dead surface cells, excess sebum, oxidation, low-grade irritation. Each of these is a stressor, and a stressed scalp is a poor environment for growth. Dermatology has documented the association repeatedly: scalps under oxidative and inflammatory stress hold less hair, shed more of it, and respond more slowly to stimulation of any kind.

This is the premise OF·27 is built on. Not that the scalp blocks actives from reaching the follicle; delivery is a separate problem, and the oleosome-protein fusion carrying our growth factors already solves it. The premise is about response. A follicle receiving a growth signal in a clear, calm environment is in a better position to act on that signal than the same follicle sitting in buildup, oil, and irritation.

So before we ask anything of the follicle, we put the environment in order. Reduce the buildup. Clear the excess sebum. Calm the irritation. Then deliver the signal, every night, for twelve weeks.

The next note describes how the two halves run together.

— The record: every claim OF·27 makes traces to a citation or a measurement. Where evidence is thin, we say so.